Author's note: Apologies for the weird formatting in this chapter, I was attempting to switch from Wordpad to Evernote and that ended up messing with paragraph spacing a bit in the beginning. Enjoy!

Garnet was already in the beach house when he got there. No matter what future she looked into, they all involved Steven looking for her, so she knew it was unavoidable - at least temporarily. Whether or not she'd be able to distract him from the topic was an entirely different matter.
Sure, Pearl and Amethyst should try to work this out, but was it really her place to tell them how to handle it? Helping to send Steven after them certainly seemed like she was subtly interfering.
Oh, well. For now, she threw her inhibitions about it toward the wind.
"3, 2, 1..." She muttered to herself.
"Garnet!" There it was. Steven rushed up the stairs and through the door. "Yes, you're here!"
The fusion allowed herself a small smirk. "Where else would I be?"
"In the temple, on a mission... lots of places!" He hopped up onto the sofa by her. She had resigned herself to his questioning and leaned back, laying her arms across of the back of the couch behind her.
"Garnet?"
"Yes, Steven?"
"Did Ruby and Sapphire always get along like they do now?"
She was silent for a moment, her mind delving back to the past for once rather than into the future.
"...No."
"Really? Why not? They seem so perfect for each other."
She smiled and gently ruffled his hair. "That may be so now, but it wasn't when they first met."
He looked up at her, his gaze tentative but probing nonetheless. "Can you tell me about them?"

Oh. Well, she supposed she couldn't blame him. Every experience he'd had with them alone up until this point had been a negative one. If there was ever a time to let him get to know them, telling him herself could be the best bet for now. He'd get to know more of the cryptic duo without her having to unfuse. A perfect compromise.

"Lieutenant Ruby?"

Ruby turned, hastily saluting. She'd been dozing and didn't have time to process the voice speaking, so better to be safe than sorry.

The taller gem giggled. "At ease Ruby, you know how I feel about things like salutes."

"Oh, y-yes." The red gem lowered their hand, averting their gaze. "I tend to forget."

"I know, it's fine." Rose smiled. She was clearly excited about something. "Ruby, I did a bit of looking around, and I've found you a new potential partner!"

Ruby groaned and dragged a hand down their face. "Rose, no offense, but every partner you find for me leaves within the week. They either say that they can't work with such a hothead or I end up burning them, or-"

"Ruby."

"Or we end up fighting, and- oh, by the way, I'm sorry about that dent I left in the wall last month, that tourmaline was really getting on my nerves - or some other ridiculous-"

"Ruby!"

The smaller of the two jolted a bit but stopped their small rant, realizing they'd started to melt the metal under their feet. "Argh!" They stepped away from the smoldering material and paced a bit, trying to clear their head.

"Ruby, I know you've had bad matches in the past. Granted, most of those were my own fault so I'm sorry about that, but I truly think this one could be something great. This one isn't like any of the others."

"Who is it?"

Rose turned toward the door as if to call for whoever it was to enter, but the doors were already opening before she could utter a single word. The tall gem hummed in response to this, clearly pleased for some reason.

The gem that Ruby saw standing there certainly seemed different. Her expression was almost completely stoic, her uniform a rich ultramarine. She entered the room and walked over to stand by Rose, if the motion could even be considered walking. It seemed more like floating than anything. Even though her gaze was hidden behind a curtain of icy blue bangs, Ruby could feel her watching them.

"Ruby, this is Sapphire."

Oh no. No no no no no. Sapphires were known for their quiet decisiveness, their studiously hidden emotions.

And Ruby couldn't stand them.

"You've got to be joking."

"Why would I be?"

"Rose, she's a Sapphire! I can barely stand other Rubies, but she's a corundum too! Gems of the same mineral don't mix, this is going to be a disaster!"

Sapphire's mouth twinged into a small frown. A thin sheen of ice began to form over her hand but it quickly melted before either of the others could notice it.

"Ruby, Please... give her a chance?"

They looked up at her for a while before sighing and turning away, begrudgingly giving in.

Rose smiled. "Fantastic! I'll let the two of you be so that you can get acquainted with each other." The door clicked shut behind her as she took her leave.

Sapphire tentatively walked over to them. "So, you're a Ruby?"

"You say that like it isn't obvious." They rolled their eyes before heading back over to the control panels along the wall, seeming to go back to working on whatever it was they did here. Sapphire had been briefed on it, but she couldn't quite remember if the system had a name or not.

"I was simply attempting to initiate a conversation. You're tense and I thought it would alleviate some of the strain between us."

"One conversation ain't going to fix that."

"Perhaps not, but one conversation tends to lead to more. With time it could dissipate. Like Rose said, we could work well together."

"Oh, so you believe that too, huh?"

Sapphire took a place at the console. "Yes. I do."

"Well, besides her, you're the first. Not exactly a good track record to live up to." Ruby's hands flitted over buttons and keys with ease. Sapphire attempted to pick up the flow where she could. It was slow going at first, but she managed to work out a relatively smooth rhythm. It would work for now.

It was many years before they spoke to each other again. They both worked silently, barely sparing the other a glance. Perhaps begrudgingly was a better word to describe their attitude toward the situation.

Ironically enough, Sapphire was the one to break the metaphorical ice.

"In theory, corundums such as ourselves should work seamlessly together."

Ruby groaned and leaned back in their chair. "You're still on about this?"

"Yes, Ruby. Our gems are one in the same. If nothing else, we should be able to at least tolerate one another." The blue gem swiveled to face her. "I may not know who you are yet, but if this is going to work there has to be mutual effort. I'm willing to try to make this partnership function on some level. The question is, are you?"

Silence.

Ruby had gone still.

They'd never had a partner speak to them like that. Even so, they brushed that aside. There was truth in her words, and they slowly relaxed their posture.

Were they ready? They'd had so many failed partnerships, it was hard to keep track of them all. They were reluctant. Reluctant to try again, reluctant to give their all, reluctant to have it all slapped back in their face. It had been a vicious cycle.

'This one isn't like any of the others.' Was this what Rose had meant? They'd never met a Sapphire like this, so she was certainly different there, but the way she handled their prospective partnership... that was definitely something new.

Before they realized it, Sapphire was standing before them, a hand outstretched. It was a silent offer, and an even subtler question.

Ruby stared at her hand.

Then rose to her feet.

Then grasped it.

"I might regret it... but to hell with possible regrets. I'll give it a shot."

A small smile graced Sapphire's face.

Ruby had never seen her smile before! It was a sign of hope, a sign that maybe things would work out better this time. She grinned a bit herself, allowing a rush of excitement to run through her. She remembered too late that strong emotion brought searing heat with it and went to pull away, eyes wide - only to have the grip on her hand strengthen.

A pleasant chill ran down her arm, just enough to cool the heat there. Sapphire could feel the warmth of her palm and felt that sensation in much the same fashion.

Ruby was aghast. Ice? Is that why the room had been frozen over so many times before? They'd assumed it had just been the ventilation acting up again, even though they were certain they'd fixed that months ago.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Ruby," she said quietly, already aware of the question that had sat on their tongue just moments before. "Just as there are plenty of things I still don't know about you. But with time..." She brushed aside her bangs with her free hand, revealing her single eye and meeting their gaze. "We can learn."

"Mom was the reason they met?"

"Mhmm. I suppose we both have her to thank for me even existing."

The boy grinned, hugging her. He quickly remembered what he originally asked her though, and pulled away again. "It sounds a lot like Pearl and Amethyst are acting like Ruby and Sapphire used to, sort of." When Garnet didn't respond to that, he tried a more direct route. "What happened between them? From what dad said, they used to work so well together. Opal used to have two arms!"

So Greg told him about that, then.

His question certainly wasn't an easy one to answer. She already knew they'd been too careless with their word choice before when speaking of Rose. She didn't want to deepen that damage and tell him that his birth had been the end of the fuse that split them.

Rather than give her voice the chance to betray her on that end, she simply shrugged. "It's not my place to say, Steven. Opal is the embodiment of the two of them, not me."

He groaned and flopped back on the couch. "That's almost exactly what Amethyst said, I'm back to square one!"

It's wonderful yet frustrating how ideas tend to come to you at the last minute.

"Wait. If Opal is the embodiment of them..." He shot up into a sitting position. "I'll just ask her!"

She didn't have the heart to tell him that talking to Opal would be next to impossible.

"Pearl and Amethyst are in their rooms."

"Thanks, Garnet!" With that he was off like a rocket, the temple door opening into Amethyst's room with the sound of particularly sticky gum.

She sighed softly once the door was shut. Time to look for possibly distasteful futures.